“look at you, with your eyes. your never giving up. your anger. your kindness. and one day, the memory of that will hurt so much that i won’t be able to breathe…”
Elizabeth Keen needed to stay alive. She is the door to the untouchable world: the world of the so-called “Blacklisters”, a list contains of criminals, bad, evil people, as it had been mentioned on Season One, people even FBI did not know they existed. If the key to open that door is the brilliant James Spader is like Christmas came early to me.
She also needed to stay alive to prove she was not guilty of all charges.
Yes, Elizabeth Keen was a strong, smart, beautiful, skilled, able grown up woman, who could take care of herself. However, I don’t think she would survive a day, had she been alone and not receiving any help.
She was a fugitive, chased by FBI, CIA (probably), Homeland Security officers, Cabal (or is it written Kabal?), and god knows who else.It would be highly unlikely that she had managed to stay alive all by herself. She was after all, a normal human being.
Think about it. even Raymond Reddington - the most brilliant mind in the criminal had needed help and would continue doing so if he wanted to survive. He had ‘Bad-ass’ Dembe, Mr Kaplan and her chain-saw, a group (or two) soldier of fortune… you name it, he had it. In short word: helpers. And from time to time: saviors.
so yeah, Agent Keen needed saving.
I love that the writing in the series is kept as realistic as possible. And I love that the female characters in this series were written well and strong, and not always on the good site - either they were the slave handler, the abusive mothers, or the sly thief - matched to Red. When will Mrs. Reddington (Madeline Pratt - a.k.a the wonderful Jennifer Ehle) play again, I wonder. Then, we have Elizabeth Keen with all her goodness and flaws. And certainly, I do not need to mention Mr. Kaplan.and her chain-saw, do I?
Perhaps I have to say a little about my definition of well written, strong characters: they are not without flaws (or goodness). They make us want to know about their past. They make us understand why they had done it - or in a more general term, they have their reasons. They are made humane - and not some reflections of our imagination. Or as my writing teacher told me: they could exist.
Now about Agent Navabi… kinda wish she would be written better… or maybe it’s just me having difficulties to give her any attention, when I have to focus on between a very strong character of Ressler and the scene stealer of Aram.
From the beginning on, the writers of “The Blacklist” had never intended to make , Tom Keen or whatever his name was to be other than this chameleon sexy killing machine. It’s pretty obvious.
But only for a moment, let’s tease ourselves with a thought, he had been a normal ordinary school teacher. A devoted loving husband, who got tangled and dragged into the crazy world of his wife.
I am dying to know, how an ordinary person tried to help his beloved wife, who lived and led a dangerous, extraordinary life. How would he cope, what could he do? How would his daily gray life change - and in what ways?
Questions, so many questions. And no answer.
But it could have been a bit of fresh air into the boring predictable stories of the whole Tom Keen segment. An illegal underground fights - how cliche. Abusive relationship - dangerous and not healthy. Not to mention, the love and the redemption part - that is too fast and too easy.
One of the best shows of last season came out of nowhere really and quite frankly I am ok with that. James Spader as Red Reddington in NBC’sThe Blacklist is a ton of fun to watch and if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, Netflix is streaming all of Season 1 right now.
The new season is upon us and to get you in the mood, here is the trailer for tonight’s episode. I love that they have amped up the James Spader-ness of Red and I absolutely love that Red’s nemesis, Berlin, is played by one of my favourite actors Peter Stormare.
Check out the trailer below and if you haven’t started seen The Blacklist, you should really get on that.
I feel cheated!!!!!! I feel cheated!!!!! I feel cheated!!! Did I know they were going to make the storyline Katarina became Red? Yes I have known that for at least 3 seasons. However after all the mystery all the intrigue the reveal felt anti climatic in a big way. After following this show for 8 years and being a faithful follower I felt like a kid on Christmas that ended up with the Dollar Store Barbie instead of Mattel’s Malibu Barbie! I wanted a meaningful answer to all my questions all the mysteries, all the webs that the writers had weaved! Did I get it? Did any of us get that? Nooooooo
We got a rushed explanation thrown together in black and white and tied up with a purple bow. They want us to believe that Dom cared so little about Katarina he gave her to men to women and put her in grave danger but then moved heaven and earth to keep her safe??? They want us to believe that the Tacoma house was so meaningful to Katarina because she played nanny sometimes when Carla wasn’t home that she blew it up to forget what happened there???? What happened there??? How did Katarina have a bloody Christmas Eve Story?? How did Katarina know Sam??? So bubble girl was Jennifer but she didn’t seem to mean anything to Katarina. Katarina didn’t really love the real Reddington? Did Mr Kaplan know about Red being Katarina?? Why was Katarina so concerned over Carla in the second season with Berlin? We were fed fast explanations and treated like casual viewers and I for one feel cheated!!!
Dear Blacklist Writers,
I want my eight years back! This wasn’t what you promised!
I have been a theorist for this show for 8 years now and all I have ever wanted is answers to the following
1. The Tacoma House
2. Bloody Christmas Eve Story
3. Bubble girl
4. The Ballerina daughter
And now that it is here it feels rushed. I like the puzzles but the writers kept us in suspense for so long it just doesn’t seem like we get the time needed to unwrap all of this information.
With the news that Megan Boone is leaving has come a lot of mixed emotions. I will say that dark Liz was never a good character. It wasn’t in her wheelhouse to play a villain and it showed constantly with every episode. Megan Boone needed Ryan Eggold to play off of. When he left the show lost a lot of its punch especially when it came to Elizabeth Keen’s character. Just my opinion
If the writers pull off a fabulous unloading in 2 episodes I’ll be shocked but it will still feel rushed.
